Karachi witnessed a surge of violence on Thursday when a total of 17 men were killed in different parts of the city.

Mufti Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, the vice president of Binoria seminary, his colleague Mufti Saleh and student Hassan Ali were killed in a brazen attack on Shahra-e-Faisal near Nursery. The cleric and his companions were shot in a targeted attack while they were travelling by road in a white van.

Television channels played security camera footage showing a motorcycle intercepting the white van to make it slow down. Dressed in a white shirt and dark-coloured pants, an unidentified man then walked up to the right side of the car and shot the passengers at close range.

Meanwhile, the motorcycle rider was joined by another man, seen wearing a cap, as well as the shooter, before all of them fled the scene. “The suspects used a 9mm pistol,” said a police official. Funeral prayers of the deceased were offered at the Binoria Mosque, Karachi.

Earlier, the body of a wanted Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) activist, Muhammad Irfan, was found in Baldia Town, along with the bodies of Muhammad Sameer and Syed Amjad.

Meanwhile, Haroon Ilyas, 40, and Raziq Palari, who went missing in Balochistan’s Saakran area a couple of weeks ago, were also found dead in Surjani Town. In Gulshan-e-Ghazi, a 28-year-old petrol pump attendant Gul Nawaz was ordered by two men on a motorcycle to fill the tank for free. When he refused, they shot him dead. The men also stole Rs3,000 from him.

Meanwhile, three workers of a non-governmental organisation that runs health facilities on the outskirts of Karachi were kidnapped by unidentified men on Thursday.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Hands Chief Executive Officer Dr Tanveer Ahmed confirmed the incident and said the three activists were in Noor Mohammad village for field work.